1. Adobe Cloud Storage

We have all recently grown accustom to the cloud based technologies in the last few years. Adobe makes it easier to store your files on Adobe’s servers, save them in one place and open them in another. You start out with around 200GB of space and in addition, Adobe has come out with a bunch of touch apps that are made specifically for you to use on your tablets. Imagine working on a Photoshop file at home, then continuing it on your tablet while on the train ride to work. Amazing stuff here!

2. CS6 Programs

The Adobe Creative Cloud includes all of the creative 6 programs. It’s like going shopping, you basically choose what you want to install, click install and then it appears on your computer ready to go.

Check out the video below to learn more!

A logo is the identity of the brand for the end consumer. It connects the brand to its consumers and thereby helps in building it. When a corporate logo fails to build this connect with the customers, there arises a need to change it and make it look different. There are also occasions where the company feels that the present day generation cannot relate to the logo that was popular some years back.

There are also situations when the company changes its motto and thereby wishes to communicate differently to its customers. This is when the existing logo becomes redundant and a new one has to be developed. Here are 8 easy ways to turn an old logo into a new one.

8 Easy Ways to Turn Old Logo Design Into New Design

1. The easiest way to do this is to work on the existing logo. The look and feel of the existing logo can be changed to give a fresh look to the logo design. But, this method has a limitation in case the entire communication of the company has to be changed,
2. The second way of doing this is to take one or more elements from the existing logo that has relevance to the new motto of the company. Then to use your own ideas to develop a new logo design.
3. While working on a new logo design you should try a simpler yet attractive option. This is important to make it more appealing to the target audience. A complicated design may not work with your audience.
4. Always remember, that you should work out an original logo design. This should not be similar to that of any other brand.
5. While working on a logo design, always remember that too much simplicity also does not work well. While making a simple option, try to add the brand communication objectives to it and make it more appealing.
6. While submitting a fresh logo option, always make sure it is completely new and does not match any pre-existing options. Compare it with other options for its originality before submitting it for review.
7. While making a new logo and changing its font, make sure you use a font that matches with the philosophies of the company. Don’t make it so radically different that it is not suitable for the company.
8. Always try not to follow the current trends. These trends will soon be replaced by new ones. They should thus not be your concern. You should rather give a personality to the logo that communicates the company’s values. Trends are a short term phenomenon that should not reflect in your design.
Transforming an old logo into a new one is not a small task. Moreover, it is a task that gives the company’s brand images a whole new meaning.
Last, but not the least, always put in your best while working on a logo.

About the author:

About the author: Alyssa Clarke is a blogger who also happens to be a tech lover. She is always on a hunt for latest gadgets and recently purchased the cool new Bang & Olufsen CD ripping device. She is a big car lover too and her dream machine is BMW i3..

You need to specifically find that niche and put all your efforts into that particular target group. In order to help you to design better you need to find out more about your target group and what they expect from you. This will enable you to be more effective in reaching out to your target group and your efforts in giving them what they want.

1. Do your research

Get some research work done on the people that you hope to design for, so that you will be able to create with ease and make something that will relate to them. Ask around and find out from people what they are interested in so that you can have some idea for whom you need to push your products.
Ask interesting and right questions and do beta testing which will help you to know which products are more effective, as well as people’s response to the overall design aspect of the products. You may have a great idea and believe that a certain group will buy it, but it does not always work out that way. For this reason you need to get as much information possible and do beta testing, which is basically a survey of your group of users and their response.

2. How to convey your design product

In any competitive market, you need to know what makes your audience relate a particular product or design. You need to have a good grasp of what you are trying to do or what it is you are trying to design for, which means you need to convey about the product and its services. Highlight your target group by conveying that you have not just the skills but can actually give them beyond what they had expected.
If you are talking about your print designs or web designs, imply that your print designs will captivate them or your web designs will enable them to connect with companies in unimaginable ways.

3. Designing your visuals

While designing your visuals do not forget the fundamentals of visual hierarchy; which includes the layout, balance of the layout and the good proximity altogether. This is to ensure that you have some order and cleanliness in your design, which should make legible sense, so your target group gets the main point even if they are just glancing through your flyers or a package. Your designs may be targeted for a certain group but there are some who may come along but do not fit into your group.
So you have to design in such a way as to make anybody relate to certain aspects with your product. Be consistent with your research, which should be shown up in your website visuals, as your website is the extension of your business and will communicate with potential clients or the existing ones.
Try to learn more about marketing tactics and research so that your visuals tend to be a direct reflection of your work, which should be effective for your clients and what they are looking for.

About the author: Alyssa Clarke is a blogger who enjoys writing on tech related topics the most. She articles includes latest tablets, smartphones, tech accessories and even 3D car racing games. She is currently learning music and hence looking for some nice music stands.

Despite its runaway success, Google has kept itself simple. It continues to provide the billions of people around the world with topnotch service without being complicated. Their basic platform has never stopped in innovating new trends to improve every individual’s Internet experience.

The latest development by Google is called +1, an online application that enables you to recommend content to people you know by having your suggested webpages shown in the Google search results whenever they try to locate that particular information.

This is Google’s way of improving search engine experience by not only providing relevant results that are quick and rich, but also display what the people connected to you think to be worth your mouse click.

The idea of Google’s +1 is derived from the use of the expression “+1” as a shortcut statement to mean that you agree or that you consider a particular content as cool. The biggest advantage that this feature can offer is the significance of the suggestions to the topic being searched, since these recommendations are made by people that are acquainted to each other.

To be qualified to use the +1 feature of Google, the primary requirement is to of course, have a Google account. For users who are already owners of a Google profile, they can opt to upgrade it.

Through your account in Google, you can view the recommendations you have made and sort them according to your personal settings as well as delete those you think are no longer needed. On the other hand, to view the +1’s from your network, you have to be logged in when you run a search.

The Difference Between the Light & Blue Logo

Basically when you “+1″ a website, the logo turns blue standing out from the rest of the choices which makes it easier to recognize your preferred websites.

Google is gradually putting their +1 feature into operation. For now, the option can be seen together with search results, ad postings and now on website articles.

Sign Up For Google + 1 Here

You can package Adobe Illustrator files with FlightCheck, the patented preflight software from Markzware. FlightCheck can thoroughly check Illustrator files and many other file types to catch potential printing problems before the output process, as well as collect and package Illustrator files.

After the investment you have made in the creation of your files, this valuable quality assurance provides peace of mind, plus saves time, money, and re-printing.

FlightCheck can preflight and package Adobe Illustrator CS5, CS4, CS3 and more. With just a click, FlightCheck will package all used fonts and images within your Illustrator files. (Illustrator does not have its own function to preflight vector-based layouts or to collect fonts and images in them.)

FlightCheck can also package Illustrator and placed Illustrator files with non-embedded images within InDesign layouts. FlightCheck can even report on linked images within placed graphics and package Illustrator links.

Preflight and Package Adobe Illustrator Files with Markzware FlightCheck

How to preflight and package Illustrator files with FlightCheck

Here is how to preflight and package Illustrator:

• Drag and drop your Adobe Illustrator file onto the FlightCheck icon for FlightCheck to preflight the Illustrator file.
• View the preflight report that warns of potential printing problems in the Illustrator file, based on selected Ground Control settings.
• Select the Collect Job option in order to package Illustrator files with used fonts and images.
• Choose the used elements to package. (You may also compress the copied items in a folder.)

It is easy to collect and package Illustrator files with FlightCheck! To purchase FlightCheck, please visit the FlightCheck Store on the Markzware website. Markzware is a leading software developer of preflight, file conversion, desktop search, file recovery software, and more.
Visit Markzware.com

However, there are certain factors and considerations to keep in mind before you start recording your first video blog, otherwise your first post could become a recipe for disaster. Here are six things you should know about video blogging before you venture forward in your blogging adventure:

1. Set up a blogging room

Your first step in starting a video blog is to set up a room that you will be blogging from. It should be an area in your home that is far away from any activity in the house, but if you live alone this shouldn’t be a problem.

It may also be a good idea to design your “blogging room” in a way that matches the theme of your blog. If you have a comic book blog, for instance, perhaps set up some posters behind you of your favourite comic books or even your comic book collection on a stack of shelves behind you.

2. Pick a program

When it comes to choosing a program to record the posts of your video blogs, it’s best to pick to one recording program and then stick to it. If you’re hoping to use a fancy or expensive program to increase the quality of your blog posts, then head out to the nearest electronic store and get one as soon as possible.

Some popular video blogging software programs include Windows Movie Maker, Vimeo and Flip Mino, but if you’re hopping to experiment with a fancier sort of software then try Momversation instead.

3. Practice makes perfect

If you truly care about the quality of your video blogging content, then you should be rehearsing what you’re going to be saying and covering in your post beforehand. Sometimes it’s not best to write out a script and then read it directly from the paper, but if this is too confusing for you try to practice what you’re going to say beforehand by saying it out loud, that way you’re more prepared as soon as you hit the record button.

4. Ask for feedback

One of the best ways to get more visitors on your video blog is to use your post to start a dialogue between you and your audience. You can ask them in the video blog what they think of your content, or even ask them what they would like to have covered in the future.

5. Edit your work

One of the biggest “no-no’s” video bloggers make is to not edit out various mistakes like empty spaces between dialogue in your video, or even slight mess-ups in your speech as well. Thanks to technology it’s incredibly easy to edit a section within your post, especially if you use programs and/or software like Eyespot, Jumpcut, or even Youtube Remixer.

6. Be yourself!

When it comes to recording your personal thoughts and opinions, it’s important to remember not to hold back and to say what you want to say, even if you have commenters critiquing your posts. There will almost always be an audience for you and what the goal of your video blog is, and even if you get a negative response it’s still a response nonetheless.

GUEST AUTHOR: Maria Rainier is a freelance writer and blogger for First in Education where she’s recently written on criminal justice degree programs along with a piece on online automotive technology programs. In her spare time, she enjoys yoga, playing piano, and working with origami.            More About Maria

In so many cases with Adobe Illustrator there are many ways of attaining a desired effect. When it comes to transforming any elements the same is true. In this video tutorial, graphic designer tips will teach you how use the SCALE TOOL to get the exact transformation you are looking for.
 

USING ONLY The Transform Tool

When we wish to increase or decrease the size proportions of an element, the normal thing to do would be to highlight all of the elements and then scale accordingly using the transform boxes.

Yes, this is one way of doing this, but if you have strokes and effects on any elements and you transform them, things are going to get messy.

To make this really simple to understand, picture having a logo that is 5″ x 5″, and there is text on it with a 5pt stroke. Now, say you transform that logo down “the usual way” to now have that logo fit inside a business card size. You may have to scale that logo down 75%, but when you do this and it’s 75% smaller, you will notice that there is still a 5pt stroke on the text.

Try it for yourself and see how incorrect it looks or look at the image above.

Using The Scale Tool

Keyboard Shortcut (S) If you are scaling an element with a stroke or any kind of effect like a drop shadow, you MUST use the scale tool.

You must first highlight every element you wish to scale and then double click the scale tool in the main toolbar. You will see some very simple options in there, but you must make sure you check the box at the bottom that says “Scale Strokes and Effects.”

The video tutorial above can help you much more with this.

Let me know how this helps!

More than likely, you will be using these two usually in tandem throughout every Graphic Design layout you create.

Almost every element you create there is a fill and there is a stroke. The only time when you would not have a fill and a stroke would be if you were to import a flattened image or photo into Illustrator. In that case adding a stroke and fill would be optional.

A stroke is the outline of an element. This tutorial will also show you how to place a gradient on a stroke which is only possible after outlining the stroke into a shape.

What is a FILL?

A fill is basically the color that is “filling” an element. If you are creating a background for a Graphic Design layout, the fill can consist of a number of things including, solid colors, gradients, and even patterns.

What is a STROKE?

Stroke is a creative word in the Graphic Design field. A Stroke is basically the outline of an element. You could also call it a “Border.” Stroke is not limited to only shapes, but can also be used on line segments. If you draw a straight line in Adobe Illustrator you can apply a stroke to it just as if you were to do it on the border of an image. Learn How To Add A Basic Stroke

 
A This is your fill color.
B Switches the fill & stroke color.
C Stroke color.
D Default black stroke white fill option.
A keyboard shortcut to toggle between the fill & stoke is the letter (x)

Before I tell you what the Eyedropper Tool does in Adobe, I want to create an image of a real-life scenario eyedropper. Imagine you are thinking about painting a bedroom in your house and you absolutely love the color blue that is on one of your pillows.

WIth your imaginary eyedropper, you can sample the color from the pillow and apply it to the wall at a 100% match. Next, you have an old set of furniture donated to you from the good ‘ole grandparents, but you’d really like something more modern like the one in the magazine you’re holding. You can sample the style of the one and turn it into the style of the other.

What the eyedropper tool in Adobe Illustrator Creative Suite does is help you sample, effects, colors and attributes from an element and apply it to another.

This will help you big-time if you have photos that a client may give you and they ask you to design a message around the photo. You can sample colors in the photo and apply them in your document.

For instance, you have a photo of a business man in a light green shirt. You can then consider making a larger headline of a darker version of that green and then use the original green from the shirt on the body text.

Another scenario is if a client gives you their logo in jpeg format. To make their piece flow just a little bit better you can now sample other elements including text to the color of their logo and it will change to that color. Awesome!

Check out the video above. It will help a lot. It’s all about experimentation……Graphic Designer’s are Inventors and Scientists.. Yipee